Friday, July 02, 2004
PK goes to the movies
Kevin and I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 last evening.
My first reaction to the film was that it's very intense. The images portrayed on screen are incredibly powerful and they stir up a lot of emotion. Moore uses a mixture of outrage, humor and sometimes folksy charm to deliver his message.
Some of the things in the film I was unaware of...and I pay pretty close attention. For example on Inauguration Day 2002, I didn't know that there was a considerdable protest in Washington DC during Bush's motorcade. The car he was riding in was pelted with eggs and the decision was made for Bush to skip the traditional walk to the swearing in area. Nowhere had I seen this on the regular network or cable news.
Some of the movie was rather esoteric. The connections Moore attempted to draw between some of the players seemed a bit lost to me... a great deal of minutia was required to make the point. Other parts were so incredibly powerful that they brought me to tears.
One of the most amazing parts of the film was the remembrance of September 11. The wrenching fear and horror of that day is brilliantly rendered. The tie in to Bush sitting at the school in Florida and reading the book with the school children even after knowing we were under attack is a very stinging examination of Bush.
Also I haven't seen other bloggers or reviewers talk much about the portrayal of former Secretary of State James Baker. His name is weaved throughout the film in connection with the Florida elections and as part of the law firm who the Saudis hired to defend them from the 9/11 Families lawsuit, as well as his close ties to the Bush family. He comes across as a very, very bad guy in this film.
The pictures of the Iraqi civilian dead and wounded are wrenching..as well as the pictures of the wounded and dead American soldiers. It made my heart ache. What was much worse for me was the mother, Lila Lipscomb, who had lost her son in Karbala. Her attempts at reconciling her previous beliefs about her support for the President and war...and dealing with burying her son were incredibly powerful. A scene of her in front of the White House confronting a passerby who claimed what she was doing was "staged" was the zenith of the film.
I also felt that the film pays incredible tribute to the soldiers in Iraq. There's one place where the film portrays some things that came across to me as very negative about the soldiers. But the rest was really a tribute to their caring about the work they do with the people of Iraq...and their very real thoughts and feelings about their job and their efforts. It made me proud to see them.
The film's closing effort is a bit of a dissapointment, in my opinion. Moore's walking up to Congressmen and asking them to sign their children up for Iraq is ridiculous. It's a "when was the last time you beat your wife" -type moment. He could have easily made the same point by just noting that only one Congressperson has a son serving in Iraq. Instead Moore comes across as a bit of a bully.
All in all...it's a very moving film. I would like to see it again and hopefully better digest it's elements.
Kev and I talked for awhile afterward about the film. Kev mentioned to me that the film made him feel "really angry". Interestingly my reaction was a bit different. I just felt incredibly sad.
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My first reaction to the film was that it's very intense. The images portrayed on screen are incredibly powerful and they stir up a lot of emotion. Moore uses a mixture of outrage, humor and sometimes folksy charm to deliver his message.
Some of the things in the film I was unaware of...and I pay pretty close attention. For example on Inauguration Day 2002, I didn't know that there was a considerdable protest in Washington DC during Bush's motorcade. The car he was riding in was pelted with eggs and the decision was made for Bush to skip the traditional walk to the swearing in area. Nowhere had I seen this on the regular network or cable news.
Some of the movie was rather esoteric. The connections Moore attempted to draw between some of the players seemed a bit lost to me... a great deal of minutia was required to make the point. Other parts were so incredibly powerful that they brought me to tears.
One of the most amazing parts of the film was the remembrance of September 11. The wrenching fear and horror of that day is brilliantly rendered. The tie in to Bush sitting at the school in Florida and reading the book with the school children even after knowing we were under attack is a very stinging examination of Bush.
Also I haven't seen other bloggers or reviewers talk much about the portrayal of former Secretary of State James Baker. His name is weaved throughout the film in connection with the Florida elections and as part of the law firm who the Saudis hired to defend them from the 9/11 Families lawsuit, as well as his close ties to the Bush family. He comes across as a very, very bad guy in this film.
The pictures of the Iraqi civilian dead and wounded are wrenching..as well as the pictures of the wounded and dead American soldiers. It made my heart ache. What was much worse for me was the mother, Lila Lipscomb, who had lost her son in Karbala. Her attempts at reconciling her previous beliefs about her support for the President and war...and dealing with burying her son were incredibly powerful. A scene of her in front of the White House confronting a passerby who claimed what she was doing was "staged" was the zenith of the film.
I also felt that the film pays incredible tribute to the soldiers in Iraq. There's one place where the film portrays some things that came across to me as very negative about the soldiers. But the rest was really a tribute to their caring about the work they do with the people of Iraq...and their very real thoughts and feelings about their job and their efforts. It made me proud to see them.
The film's closing effort is a bit of a dissapointment, in my opinion. Moore's walking up to Congressmen and asking them to sign their children up for Iraq is ridiculous. It's a "when was the last time you beat your wife" -type moment. He could have easily made the same point by just noting that only one Congressperson has a son serving in Iraq. Instead Moore comes across as a bit of a bully.
All in all...it's a very moving film. I would like to see it again and hopefully better digest it's elements.
Kev and I talked for awhile afterward about the film. Kev mentioned to me that the film made him feel "really angry". Interestingly my reaction was a bit different. I just felt incredibly sad.
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